Miandad’s monkey jumps endure in memories of India’s 1st World Cup win over Pak

By B. Shrikant

Mumbai, Oct 22 (SocialNews.XYZ) India and Pakistan clashed for the first time in the ODI World Cup on March 4, 1992, in Sydney and the low-scoring match had all the drama that is associated with the rivalry.

They were two star-studded teams -- India had the likes of Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Kris Srikkanth, Ajay Jadeja, and legend-in-the-making Sachin Tendulkar, while Pakistan had Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Aamer Sohail, and young Inzamam-ul Haq, in his maiden tournament.

It was a well-fought match that India won by 43 runs to start a dominant streak, and has thus far never lost to Pakistan in seven matches in the ODI World Cup.

The enduring image of that encounter is that of a 35-year-old Javed Miandad taking out his frustration -- as Pakistan's defeat looked imminent -- with monkey jumps in response to India wicket-keeper Kiran More's constant chirping to encourage his bowlers.

On that eventful day in Sydney, Azhar won the toss and elected to bat first. India lost Srikkanth early but Jadeja and Azharuddin took the score to 86 at the midway stage before the skipper got out. It was slow going as the pitch had some juice to offer to the seamers and Pakistan had a strong bowling attack.

Jadeja stuck around for 46 but it was Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev who gave the Indian score a real push -- the 18-year-old Sachin completing a fine half-century (54 off 62 deliveries). Kapil Dev landed a few lusty blows, including a huge six, as he blazed to 35 off 25 deliveries to help India reach 216/7 in 49 overs as Pakistan maintained a slow over rate.

In response, Pakistan too got off to a poor start losing Inzamam-ul Haq (2) and Zahid Fazal (2) with 17 runs on the board. Aamer Sohail and Miandad took the score past the 100-run mark at a slow rate but Pakistan looked on course with the likes of Salim Malik, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Moin Khan yet to come.

However, things went south for Pakistan as they lost Sohail for 62 (95 balls) at 105 in the 31st over and soon slumped to 141/6 in the 39th over when Akram was stumped by More off Venkatapathy Raju.

That left Miandad as Pakistan's only hope but the legendary batter was struggling to get the ball away. As the pressure piled up, Miandad attempted a quick single but was sent back by his partner, reaching to safety just before More whipped the bails off.

Frustrated by his struggle, Miandad executed three bent-knee monkey jumps in succession as the Indian fielders looked amused. More was not happy but in the end, India had the last laugh as they won the match by 43 runs.

Pakistan, however, went on to claim their only ODI World Cup title beating England in the final.

Source: IANS